After drawing criticism for an October 16 Jimmy Kimmel skit which featured a six-year-old boy making a joke about wiping out the entire Chinese population, ABC has now apologized. The pre-taped segment had Kimmel asking a group of kids how they felt the U.S. should deal with its increasing debt to China, positing, “How should we pay them back?” One of the kids answers, “Kill everyone in China!” (to which Kimmel responds, laughing, “That’s an interesting idea”). Later, Kimmel probes further, asking, “Should we allow the Chinese to live?” and the four children respond they are split on the matter.

Unsurprisingly, after the skit went viral, an online petition to the president—which eventually garnered 60,000 signatures—was created (asking that Obama force ABC to “cut the show” and demanding a formal apology from the network). The South China Morning Posthas now published a letter which ABC sent to pan-Asian-American group 80-20, in which the network offers its “sincere apology.” The letter goes on to state the network “would never purposefully do anything to upset” Asian communities, and that their “objective is to entertain.” Additionally, the letter sets forth that the skit will be edited out of all future broadcasts and removed from the internet. Kimmel, for now, has remained mum on the matter, both on his Twitter and on the show.

Josh DuboffJosh Duboff is a VF.com staff writer, based in New York, who covers entertainment and culture.